Oh, The Horror DVD Shoppe

Before I was known as the Burger Beast, most folks recognized me as the guy from Oh, The Horror DVD Shoppe on the mean streets of Miami, Florida.

From October 2000 through October 2002, I owned a small film store that focused on independent, cult, foreign & horror movies.

I chose to open in the middle of the neighborhood where I grew up, Westchester, Florida. The store itself stood out like a sore thumb sandwiched between a veterinarian’s office and a furniture shop.

The store would replace my grandfather’s printing shop, which had been there since 1976. You can imagine the look of shock on my family’s faces when I laid the name on them. They thought I wanted to open some sort of mainstream Blockbusterish type place, but they were way wrong.

The idea was to rent movies and sell a few shirts and memorabilia on the side. The store became known for carrying t-shirts, posters, and merchandise associated with obscure and pop culture films. It was one of the few places you could find Nightmare Before Christmasmerch before it became over-commercialized.

If it wasn’t for our website and eBay sales, we might have only lasted six months in business.

Oh The Horror DVD Shoppe! Logo

We made a good run of it for two years, but my idea was a little ahead of its time and definitely located in the wrong part of town. Notice I’m not saying it was a bad idea because I don’t think it was.

If there had been all these great social media vehicles like Instagram to promote it back then, it’s possible Oh, The Horror! would still be around.

I always think, what could I have done differently, and it’s one of those things that will be running through my head forever.

Unfortunately, all the pictures I had of the shop were lost when my computer crashed years ago but through the Wayback Machine, I was able to get a copy of the logo and storefront picture.

You can see my friend Lesther standing there through the front door. He was our Employee of the Month every month. Lesther was also its only employee, other than my wife Marcela and I.

I’ve still got the John Malkovich cardboard face in storage somewhere that is directly under the 9526.

Oh, The Horror! DVD Shoppe exterior

Some of the Oh, The Horror DVD Shoppe tees and business cards are still floating around. In case you were wondering who G.A. Echevarria in the top card is, it was my late grandfather.

Oh, The Horror! DVD Shoppe Tee

Oh, The Horror! DVD Shoppe had three articles written about it in the paper.

The 1st one was in the business section of El Nuevo Herald, which was a bizarre choice. Later on, articles in Street (Miami Herald’s New Times knockoff) and the Neighbors section of the Miami Herald happened.

El Nuevo Herald: Business 1-3-01

El Nuevo Herald: Business 1-3-01

The Miami Herald: Neighbors Section 11-4-01

Miami Herald’s Street Magazine 7-12-02

Who knows? Maybe one day under the right circumstances Oh, The Horror may return.

One Comment

I am sorry I missed this! I would love to own and cook for the snack bar of an action movie theater that shows the classics. Maybe it’s just because I want to eat my own potato skins while watching Rambo movies on the big screen. I think you can do it again if you want and I think Westchester is a good location nowadays. Or maybe closer to FIU . . .